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Sunday, December 21st, 2025
the Fourth Week of Advent
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Hosea 4:9

That's why I will punish the people for their deeds, just as I will punish you priests.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Example;   Influence;   Judgment;   Minister, Christian;   Proverbs;   Sin;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Punishment of the Wicked, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Hosea;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Prostitution;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hosea;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Priests and Levites;   Sin;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The same judgment will happento both people and priests.I will punish them for their waysand repay them for their deeds.
Hebrew Names Version
It will be, like people, like Kohen; And I will punish them for their ways, And will repay them for their deeds.
King James Version
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
English Standard Version
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
New American Standard Bible
And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
New Century Version
The priests are as wrong as the people, and I will punish them both for what they have done. I will repay them for the wrong they have done.
Amplified Bible
And it shall be: like people, like priest [both are wicked and both will be judged]; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And there shalbe like people, like Priest: for I wil visite their wayes vpon them, and reward them their deedes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
Legacy Standard Bible
And it will be like people, like priest;So I will punish them for their waysAnd cause their deeds to return to them.
Berean Standard Bible
And it shall be like people, like priest. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
Complete Jewish Bible
But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.
Darby Translation
And it shall be as the people so the priest; and I will visit their ways upon them, and recompense to them their doings;
Easy-to-Read Version
So the priests are no different from the people. I will punish them for the things they did. I will pay them back for the wrong things they did.
George Lamsa Translation
The priest has become common like the people; and I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their deeds.
Good News Translation
You will suffer the same punishment as the people! I will punish you and make you pay for the evil you do.
Lexham English Bible
And it will be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and I will requite them for their deeds.
Literal Translation
And it will be, Like people, like priest. And I will visit their ways on them and repay them for their deeds.
American Standard Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings.
Bible in Basic English
And the priest will be like the people; I will give them punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it is like people, like priest; and I will punish him for his ways, and will recompense him his doings.
King James Version (1611)
And there shall be like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their wayes, and reward them their doings.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thus the priest is become lyke the people: Wherfore I wyll punishe them for their wicked wayes, and rewarde them according to their owne imaginations.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the priest shall be as the people: and I will avenge on them their ways, and I will recompense to them their counsels.
English Revised Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and will reward them their doings.
World English Bible
It will be, like people, like priest; And I will punish them for their ways, And will repay them for their deeds.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And it schal be, as the puple so the prest; and Y schal visite on hym the weies of hym, and Y schal yelde to him the thouytis of hym.
Update Bible Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings.
Webster's Bible Translation
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
New English Translation
I will deal with the people and priests together: I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds.
New King James Version
And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
New Living Translation
‘And what the priests do, the people also do.' So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.
New Life Bible
The religious leaders will be punished the same as the people. I will punish them for what they have done.
New Revised Standard
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So doth it come to be - like people, like priest, - therefore will I visit upon him his ways, and, his doings, will I bring back to him;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
Revised Standard Version
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and requite them for their deeds.
Young's Literal Translation
And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus the prest is become like the people. Wherfore I will punysh them for their wicked wayes, & rewarde them acordinge to their owne ymaginacions.

Contextual Overview

6 You priests have rejected me, and my people are destroyed by refusing to obey. Now I'll reject you and forget your children, because you have forgotten my Law. 7 By adding more of you priests, you multiply the number of people who sin. Now I'll change your pride into shame. 8 You encourage others to sin, so you can stuff yourselves on their sin offerings. 9 That's why I will punish the people for their deeds, just as I will punish you priests. 10 Their food won't satisfy, and having sex at pagan shrines won't produce children. My people have rebelled 11 and have been unfaithful to me, their Lord . My people, you are foolish because of too much pleasure and too much wine.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

like people: Isaiah 9:14-16, Isaiah 24:2, Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah 8:10-12, Jeremiah 23:11, Jeremiah 23:12, Ezekiel 22:26-31, Matthew 15:14

punish: Heb. visit upon, Hosea 1:4, *marg.

reward them: Heb. cause to return, Psalms 109:17, Psalms 109:18, Proverbs 5:22, Isaiah 3:10, Zechariah 1:6

Reciprocal: Judges 18:4 - hired me 1 Samuel 2:22 - did unto 1 Kings 2:44 - return Acts 23:14 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 4:4
and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord . He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:9
Afterwards the Lord asked Cain, "Where is Abel?" "How should I know?" he answered. "Am I supposed to look after my brother?"
Genesis 4:11
And so, I'll put you under a curse. Because you killed Abel and made his blood run out on the ground, you will never be able to farm the land again.
Genesis 4:13
"This punishment is too hard!" Cain said.
Genesis 4:14
"You're making me leave my home and live far from you. I will have to wander about without a home, and just anyone could kill me."
Genesis 37:32
After this, they took the coat to their father and said, "We found this! Look at it carefully and see if it belongs to your son."
Psalms 9:12
You did not forget to punish the guilty or listen to the cries of those in need.
Proverbs 28:13
If you don't confess your sins, you will be a failure. But God will be merciful if you confess your sins and give them up.
John 8:44
Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of committing intemperance and uncleanness as the other, and in their common conversation of life; though the priests ought both to have given good instructions, and to have set good examples; but instead of that were equally guilty as the people, and so would be alike in their punishment, as it follows:

and I will punish them for their ways; their evil ways, as the Targum; their wicked manner of life and conversation, both of the people and the priests; especially the latter are meant: or, "I will visit upon him his ways" w; upon everyone of the priests, as well as the people; which visit must be understood in a way of wrath and vengeance:

and reward them their doings; reward them according to their doings, as their sins deserve, and as it is explained in the next verse: or, "I will return their doings to them" x; bring them back again, when they seemed to be past and gone, and set them before them, and charge them with them, and punish for them.

w ופקדתי עליו דרכיו "et visitabo super eum vias ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt. x ומעלליו אשיב לו "et opera ejus redire faciam", Zanchius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there shall be like people, like priest - Priest and people were alike in sin. Yea they are wont, if bad, to foment each other’s sin. The bad priest copies the sins which he should reprove, and excuses himself by the frailty of our common nature. The people, acutely enough, detect the worldliness or self-indulgence of the priest, and shelter themselves under his example. Their defense stands good before people; but what before God? Alike in sin, priest and people should be alike in punishment. “Neither secular greatness should exempt the laity, nor the dignity of his order, the priest.” Both shall be swept away in one common heap, in one disgrace, into one damnation. “They shall bind them in bundles to burn them.”

And I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings - Literally, “I will visit upon him his ways, and his doings I will make to return to him.” People and priests are spoken of as one man. None should escape. The judgment comes down “upon” them, overwhelming them. Man’s deeds are called his “ways,” because the soul holds on the tenor of its life along them, and those ways lead him on to his last end, heaven or hell. The word rendered “doings ” signifies “great doings,” when used of God; “bold doings,” on the part of man. Those bold presumptuous doings against the law and will of God, God will bring back to the sinner’s bosom.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 4:9. Like people, like priest

"The priest a wanderer from the narrow way;

The silly sheep, no wonder that they stray."


I will punish them — Both priest and people; both equally bad.


 
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